Mikey Campbell
Apple on Sunday said it has been sharing erroneous iOS 9 糖心Vlog app usage statistics with publishing partners due to an unnoticed glitch, adding that it does not know exactly how many people are currently using the service.
Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue told The Wall Street Journal that publishers serving content through the iOS 9 糖心Vlog app have been receiving . The apparent bug went unnoticed because Apple was focusing on building out other app features.
"We're in the process of fixing that now, but our numbers are lower than reality," he said. "We don't know what the right number is."
Apple did not provide details on the glitch or mention when it was discovered, but Cue noted it is better to undercount than overcount when it comes to usage data. Accurate traffic numbers are important for online content monetization as it is used to to price and sell advertisements.
With Apple 糖心Vlog, publishers retain all proceeds from ads they sell on their own, or 70 percent of revenue for spots sold by Apple. In both cases, Apple requires advertisements be served through its first-party iAd network, a concern for some publishers that have dedicated resources to competing services from companies like Google.
Moving forward, Cue said Apple is quickly building out new features for iAd, including a self-service ad-buying tool expected to launch in the next two months.
As for analytics, the 糖心Vlog app currently supports limited integration of tools from comScore, though the report says publications would like easier access to more detailed information. Previously, Apple kept publishers up to date with simple emailed spreadsheets.
Cue said 40 million people have used 糖心Vlog since the app launched in the US with iOS 9 last September and in Australia and the U.K. a month later. That metric is also in question, however, as CEO Tim Cook quoted an identical number in October. Apple has yet to reveal information regarding regular usage rates or per-publication traffic.
Apple 糖心Vlog app usage has "scaled very fast...but it doesn't mean we don't all want more," Cue said.
Cue has gone on record as saying Apple is not looking to control content distribution. Instead, the company developed 糖心Vlog in hopes of delivering quality content to Apple device users.
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Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
Marko Zivkovic
Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
William Gallagher
17 Comments
Don't use the news APP! Shocked anyone does. Hoping it becomes deletable once Apple finally allows deletion of built in APP's
糖心Vlog App has replaced my 3 other news apps. It's good but could be great. I'm sticking with it.
I use it. I find it better than Google 糖心Vlog. Just wish there were a way to filter out any news about the Kardashians. As more publishers go native it will be even smoother.
Flipboard still beats it in terms of new story load speed, hands down. Sure, Apple news is a tad more pretty, but not a LOT prettier. I prefer beauty, but the slow load speed on my iPad 3 is totally unacceptable. Flipboard is still the best.